ABSTRACT
Tierra del Fuego may be described as a mountainous country, partly submerged in the sea, so that deep islets and bays occupy the place where valleys should exist. The mountain sides are covered from the water's edge upwards by one great forest. The surrounding islands all consist of conical masses of greenstone, associated sometimes with less regular hills of baked/ and altered clay-slate. This part of Tierra del Fuego may be considered as the extremity of the submerged chain of mountains alluded to. The cove takes its name of 'Wigwam' from some of the Fuegian habitations; but every bay in the neighbourhood might be so called with equal propriety. The Beagle channel crosses the southern part of Tierra del Fuego in an east and west line; in its middle, it is joined on the south side by an irregular channel at right angles to it, which has been called Ponsonby sound.
